What is going to happen to J93.3?

[ngriffin]

It's not as much giving up on a full C, as the standards increasing and it not beign worth the cost to upgrade. Prior to the C1 and C2 designation, anything in this region over 6kW at 100 meters (or equivalent) was class C. Then the bar was set at 100 kW at 300 meters (just shy of 1000 feet). When the C0 class was added, the bar moved up to 450 meters. Any station that is below their classification keeps it, until another station files to "downgrade" it to the conforming class.

Building a tall tower is not cheap or easy, especially in a metro area. Permits, NIMBY, FAA, etc. The coverage difference between 300 and 600 meters is most noticeable on the fringes, so you're talking about the listeners who are 50-70 miles out. A lot of stations did build out in the mid to late 80's, especially those on very short sticks. FM had become the dominant medium by then, so there was good reason to spend the money and end u with a competitive signal.

The difference between 100kW at 300 meters and at 450 meters is pretty negligible, especially within the closer reaches. So unless there's a tall tower very close by (most stations are pretty hemmed in now) or there's an opportunity to "move in" to a metro market as a "rim shot," it really isn't worth the cost. Some stations will put the process on hold for a few years by filing for a CP at an acceptable height and eventually letting it expire (by choice or by economic circumstance).

 

[secondchoice]

“The difference between 100kW at 300 meters and at 450 meters is pretty negligible.”

That is the same reasoning that of the Atlanta AM’s only 750 has a good signal north of Town Center at night. Sooner or later it will be non stop city from Chattanooga to Macon, and Columbus to Charlotte. The some people call them Megacities. PPM’S will be in Rome, Ellijay, Commerce and Madison.

It’s like the owners of WDBL Springfield TN. (were I started), who had a 100 KW FM and traded it for 3KW to “save on the light bill” in the late 1960’s.” They were running the regulated 18 min.s of commercials and they were not dollar a holler either. That FM is WUBT 101.1 Russellville KY which is in the Nashville top 5. 94.3 could not be upgraded to 6KW because of Springfield’s elevation and the Class A channel and last year it was sold and mover to Fort Campbell KY.

 

[artsutton]

I remember back in the mid to late 70s this was WFDR and it was a master blaster, awesome format with a full 100k signal that reached all of Metro Atlanta at that time.

I'm interested to know what transpired to bring about the power downgrade after this time.

There's no way WFDR could have covered all of metro Atlanta at 93.3 in the mid-to-late 70's because of WZGC at 92.9. The call letters suggest the former site near Manchester (and Warm Springs).

WVFJ went on the air in 1967 with 29,000 watts at 490 feet; call sign WFDR-FM. Jack Whitehorn, owner and President of WFDR, Inc. This according to the 1974 Broadcasting Yearbook. By 1977 it had increased power to 61,000 watts still at 490 feet. WFDR, Inc. still owner. By 1982, Provident Broadcasting was the owner with the call sign WQCK; power of 100,000 watts at 490 feet. Format: Country. Broadcasting Yearbook shows Provident bought station 8 19 81 with Dave Williams, VP/General Manager. There was a bankruptcy in there somewhere according to some old FCC info I read once but I can't tell you when that occured.

It is very possible that you could pick up 93.3 in the Atlanta area in the 1970s. First of all most FM stations operated with towers well under 500 feet..most of them were installed on the sister AM tower unless their was a co owned TV station with a taller tower. I can remember into the early 1980s, you could pick up WMTM-FM in Moultrie, GA at Brunswick, Milledgeville and almost to Panama City. They were 100,000 watts with a center of radiation of 150 feet! Most of the Cs had big 10 to 15 bay antennas so they could get by with smaller transmitters. The FMs operated on the back of the AM station profits. Don Kennedy of Officer Don fame from Channel 2 and later the Georgia Network was one of the first to make a profit on a standalone Atlanta FM with his WKLS..the K standing for Kennedy and the other letters for his business partners. He sold out and used the money to start the radio network in Georgia and later Florida. It was really the late 1970s before FM came into its own in Georgia. The FCC required by March 1986 that Class C FM stations had to operate with a minimum power of 100KW and on a tower of 1000 feet or they would be downgraded to a C1. This is what pushed stations like WGPC in Albany to go from 43KW at 140 feet and many many others to build 1000 ft towers. What is now WALR on 104.1 was for the longest WWCG and before that WLAG-FM; 29,500 watts at 220 feet. Years earlier WNGC in Athens on 95.5 left the AM tower then went to 100KW on 600 feet then up to 1000 feet.Most of the station owners by the mid 80s were nearing retirement so they either built the big tower and sold or sold to an operator who would build the tower. Good example WDUN-FM in Gainesville on 106.7 later WWID and now WYAY. They sold in the early 1980s. WLET-FM in Tococa on 106.1 first went 100KW on the 300 ft AM tower, then moved to a mountain top at the Rabun-Habersham County line. I have had several people tell me you could actually pick up WLET-FM near Savannah when it was 100KW at 300 feet. There were no other FMs on or near 106.1 to block it.
It was that 1986 Class C requirement and the earlier 80-90 docket which resulted in so many FM signals coming on the air...and just like AM 20 years or so earlier, ate into the coverage range of all stations. Another FCC action was to do away with certain frequencies only being used by certain classes of stations. For instance, you could only put a Class A, 3KW at 300 ft maximum on 107.1. The FCC changed the rule so that if it fit, you can run whatever class works. 107.1 was a Class A that got a lot of upgrade action in our part of the world. This was when stations like WCON-FM went from a Class A to a C2. The early birds got the worm of the biggest facilities. In Atlanta the reason the Cs were all downgraded is due to the Atlanta Airport. The airport ceiling down there keeps towers at a maximum of 1000 feet which means a C0 or C1. To maintain a C, you need at least 1500 feet thus WSRV is still a C.

I'd not discount WVFJ's upgrade. I don't know anything about it but I do know these upgrades can grow in steps. You may or may not be seeing just Step 1.

 

[taylorengineer]

There are FAA restrictions in the Atlanta area preventing tower heights over around 1100 feet. There is no reasonable way to make full C class for any of the Atlanta licensed FM's. 97.1 is the only full class C in the area- all others are C-0 or below. 104.7 and 106.7 use a 1600 foot tower but at reduced power as The Fish is a C-1 and 106.7 is a C-0.
Dick Byrd, former chief engineer at Z93 for 22 years, tried his best to get Cook-Inlet, the Eskimo folks who owned Z93 back in those days, to understand the gravity of their decision back then.....I remember those days well. Tom McGinley, the Director of Engineering for Cook-Inlet told them it was a very bad decision which would have ramifications for years to come. They did it-or should I say, they didn't do it, anyway.
FM signals are line of sight. In theory, the height of the antenna dictates the distance to the radio horizon - the taller the tower - the better your coverage. 1000-1100 feet seems to cover most of the Atlanta ADI fairly well.

 

[Rogue]

So many factors play a part in the "glass canyons" of a city like Atlanta, but it's a fact that 97.1 on that big stick among the grape vines has a line of sight and the watts to kick it like no other in the "metro".

I've carried it damn near to Savannah southeast, listened to it clean in Chattanooga north west and in Greenville, SC and above like a bell, and that's on a stock mobile car unit.

Granted, the antenna is cut to 31 inches, lol...

My DX'ing friend south of Charlotte pulls it with regularity on a high end hot rig.

 

[JR1967]

I found out about 97.1's powerful signal back in 1988 during a drive from near Wilmington N.C. to Atlanta. I picked up then-WFOX near Florence S.C. and literally listened to the station nearly the entire time from Florence to Atlanta with minimal static while on I-20.

 

[jabba17]

I found out about 97.1's powerful signal back in 1988 during a drive from near Wilmington N.C. to Atlanta. I picked up then-WFOX near Florence S.C. and literally listened to the station nearly the entire time from Florence to Atlanta with minimal static while on I-20.

I'd gotten Fox as far east as Columbia.

So many factors play a part in the "glass canyons" of a city like Atlanta, but it's a fact that 97.1 on that big stick among the grape vines has a line of sight and the watts to kick it like no other in the "metro".

I've carried it damn near to Savannah southeast, listened to it clean in Chattanooga north west and in Greenville, SC and above like a bell, and that's on a stock mobile car unit.

My DX'ing friend south of Charlotte pulls it with regularity on a high end hot rig.

Doesn't Cox want to drag it intown and put it on a shorter tower? If so, why?

 

[Rogue]

I found out about 97.1's powerful signal back in 1988 during a drive from near Wilmington N.C. to Atlanta. I picked up then-WFOX near Florence S.C. and literally listened to the station nearly the entire time from Florence to Atlanta with minimal static while on I-20.

I'd gotten Fox as far east as Columbia.

So many factors play a part in the "glass canyons" of a city like Atlanta, but it's a fact that 97.1 on that big stick among the grape vines has a line of sight and the watts to kick it like no other in the "metro".

I've carried it damn near to Savannah southeast, listened to it clean in Chattanooga north west and in Greenville, SC and above like a bell, and that's on a stock mobile car unit.

My DX'ing friend south of Charlotte pulls it with regularity on a high end hot rig.

Doesn't Cox want to drag it intown and put it on a shorter tower? If so, why?

Supposedly for more $$$ intown (right), but dare I say they HAVEN'T A CLUE how to properly sell it regionally on a grand scale for far more bucks.

Yeah, I just said that, little ole me.

It was just cool for me to jock that 100k as a teen, bottom line, personally.

 

[xmusicmatt]

Could EMF possibly eye J93.3??? I know its not a complete market covering signal but this would greatly expand their footprint and claim another big market. (KLove is now heard in San Fran on the west coast via KSTN 107.3) so it appears they are now looking for bigger market(s) and signals for their format.

 

[StoneGT]

If EMF is looking at the 93.3 signal, I hope we get the CHR network Air1, not the AC network K-Love.

K-Love would keep J93.3 in the same "me too" rut with the boring, but very popular Fish 104.7. Air1 would be a differentiator that would make people search out 93.3 despite the less than ideal signal. (why do that now if both are serving up the same thing?)

Air1 could make a nice splash in the Atlanta market.

 

[frdeaconjosephz]

My thought is that WVFJ might be a good pick-up for Greg Davis. Give LaRaza a western signal. similar to the old Y106/Y104 simulcast

 

[jabba17]

My thought is that WVFJ might be a good pick-up for Greg Davis. Give LaRaza a western signal. similar to the old Y106/Y104 simulcast

He's already got WNSY 100.1...

 

[GRS86]

I remember back in the mid to late 70s this was WFDR and it was a master blaster, awesome format with a full 100k signal that reached all of Metro Atlanta at that time. This is just a lost lamb now. They ought to simulcast WGUN....

Correct. I remember WFDR of the late 70's - early 80's covering the SW quadrant with somewhere between a Grade A and a Grade B signal. That's when it was at a full 100K. Beyond downtown Atlanta, and to the east, the signal was marginal at best. As far as Metro Atlanta was concerned, it was at it's strongest in South Fulton and southward. Even though they boasted of reaching Atlanta, their bread and butter coverage area was the area between Macon over to Columbus. The signal went as far west as Tuskegee and Auburn, AL. Depending on the weather, it wasn't too far fetched to pick it up as far as Montgomery, Albany, Cordele, or Fitzgerald.

 

[frdeaconjosephz]

If Davis could acquire this property, he could put the laraza signal west/ southwest of Atlanta and Northern Columbus.